Popular Girl Esteem
by Shiva-J
Summary: When Daria gets stuffed into the Self-Esteem Course, she doesn't just bump into Jane. There's another girl there, a popular girl by the name of Tori Jericho and there's a little more to her than just being Lawndale High's resident gossip.
1. Popular Girl Esteem

**Popular Girl Esteem**

As Daria raised her hand to ask Mr. O'Neill what the hell he was talking about, she heard someone clear their throat behind her.

"Don't bother asking him anything." A girl's voice spoke up from behind Daria's seat.

She turned to find herself looking at a beautiful girl with blond hair, blue eyes, and oddly enough the latest clothes from Cashmans.

"O'Neill doesn't have any idea what he's talking about, he's just following a script." the girl said dismissively.

"Then why the hell is he teaching what is, in essence, a psychological course that's supposed to help people?!" Daria asked incredulously.

"Because this isn't a real class." Another girl chimed in from nearby, Daria glanced to see the 'art-girl' she had seen in some of her other classes earlier that day.

The art-girl then added, "It's a punishment for being different."

"Or just a punishment." The blond girl grumbled under her breath, staring in surprise at 'art-girl' for speaking.

"Want me to fill you in? The name's Jane by the way."

"Sure," Daria answered back, "And the name's Daria."

She then glanced at Jane and indicated towards the blond.

Jane shrugged her shoulders.

"My name is Tori," The blond answered with a look of surprise at Jane, "I've lived here for years."

An awkward silence began to bloom, but thankfully it was broken by Mr. O'Neill's attempts at putting a tape into a VCR, and then having to turn off the lights so people could see the TV screen.

* * *

After the torture, three girls were walking back to their respective homes in the sleepy suburb of Lawndale.

"...And then we get separated by gender and Ms. Manson talks to us about body image." Jane said to the two of them, keeping a brisk pace despite her boot-related footwear.

"Ugh, not again!" Tori complained loudly, "I've already gotten three different lectures about my weight from that witch. I'm not that freaking skinny, dammit!"

Then as Tori kicked a rock with her (fashionable) boots, Daria couldn't help but look at the girl a bit more appraisingly.

Jane however pressed on by saying, "I've got no clue what the guys talk is like..."

"Jane," Tori replied suddenly, "It's a room full of boys. What do you _think_ they are talking about?!"

All three girls paused and gave a collective shudder before resuming their walk.

To fill the void, Daria asked Jane, "Ok, so you have the course memorized. Why haven't you passed the test to get out?"

Jane smirked, "Besides the fact that it pisses Ms. Li off? I'd have to say... That I like having low self-esteem. It makes me feel special."

Tori found herself staring at Jane, wondering if she had actually heard that, or if she was just suffering some sort of hallucination.

_'Well, you were the one that didn't want to walk home in the dark by yourself,'_ a snide voice told her, _'Just go with the flow and be thankful that bitch Sandi doesn't know where you are right now.' _

Tori mentally wiped her metaphorical forehead in relief, it was bad enough for her status to be stuffed in O'Neill's torture-class, much less that she was now with two girls that clearly didn't care about what people thought about them.

Or the worst thing of all...

_'That you kind of like them for not giving a flying fuck.'_ that voice went again.

Thankfully for Tori's peace of mind she spotted her place and bade Daria and Jane a polite goodbye before heading in, leaving them to go on without her.

* * *

_Note: Tori is the infamously unnamed backgrounder 'The Popular Girl'._


	2. Popular Girl Esteem II

**Popular Girl Esteem II**

"Oye," Tori muttered while walking down the halls of Lawndale High with her friends, "It's another beautiful day and here we are, about to face a pop quiz in History class."

"And how do _you_ know that Ms. Jericho?" LaToya asked with a vague curiosity due to being a full grade ahead of Tori.

Tori just smirked, "I've got my sources."

Lyra shuddered, "My God! We're only a month into the school year, what does he think we are?! Robots or something?"

Emily grimaced, "I think I know why he's springing this on you guys..."

"Because Kevin _and_ Brittany drove him up the wall this morning." Tori finished for her.

All three girls stared at her.

"What?" Tori asked with a perplexed look, "I told you, I've got my sources."

"We know that!" Lyra exclaimed, annoyed.

"What Lyra is trying to say," LaToya chimed in with a glare at her beehived haired friend, "This year your ability to get information has gone like, way, way up." LaToya deliberately paused before asking, "How?"

"Trade secret!" Tori sing-songed merrily before spotting her locker and peeling away, knowing that her odds of faking through the quiz were slim but she could at least cram some last-minute stuff now.

_'Do you think it's that stupid esteem thing Manson's making her take?'_ Emily asked herself before dismissing it out of hand. _'Tori had always been good at getting the low-down,_' the girl told herself, _'Maybe she just got even better over the summer or something.'_

* * *

Much to Daria's surprise when she opened her locker there was a note on top of her books that hadn't been there before.

"What's this?" Daria muttered to herself while grabbing the offending paper and opened it up and read; _'Thanks for mentioning how wound up Mr. D got, I'm facing a pop quiz for sure. -Tori_

"So who's your admirer?" Jane teased at her side.

Daria just handed her the note, Jane read it and whistled.

"Wow," Jane said, "I didn't realize you and Tori were on speaking terms."

Daria shrugged slightly, "I bumped into her in the bathroom, we exchanged hello's and Tori asked me what I was muttering about."

"You were muttering?" Jane replied, a bit surprised, even as Daria grabbed her books and shut the locker.

Daria nodded as they began heading to class, "Yes, Kevin's stupidity was even worse than yesterday since Brittany added her two cents, and I think I mentioned it getting to both my and Mr. DeMartino's nerves..."

"I'll stop you right there," Jane interrupted, "Did Mr. D begin pulling his hair along with the eye bulge?"

"Yeah, so?"

Jane chuckled, "That means that he was _really_ frustrated, and when Mr. DeMartino gets like that he tends to hammer the next classes even harder with things like 'facts' and 'learning' to make himself feel better."

"Ahh..." Daria drawled as they walked past a cute girl with red hair and some boy chatting her up.

"So... like, what do you like to do after school?" They heard the guy ask her, leaning an arm against the locker, trying to show off his muscles.

"Oh, nothing special." The girl drawled before saying the complete opposite as her hints/demands quickly became quite expensive.

Jane snorted, "He doesn't have a prayer."

"Tell me about it." Daria complained quietly, "That's my spoiled little sister, Quinn."

The guy then asked the girl if she had any siblings.

"I'm an only child." Quinn answered casually, seemingly not aware of Daria's proximity.

As Daria suppressed a hurt reaction, none of the people involved spotted a head of blond hair off to the distance in hearing range.

* * *

Just after lunch Daria felt someone approaching her, she turned to see if it was Jane and saw Tori instead.

"What do you want?" Daria asked flatly.

Tori took a deep breath, clearly a bit intimidated by the especially flat reaction and then took the plunge.

"Do you want to get Quinn back?"

Daria did a double take, clearly whatever she had expected from the popular girl, it wasn't that.

"What?"

"Do you want to get Quinn back?" Tori repeated and then added, "I heard what she said, and I'm pretty sure she knew you were there."

Daria suppressed a grimace before just giving a nod.

"Ok then," Tori answered a bit more strongly, finding her stride, "Here's the plan."

It only took a couple minutes of explanation, but by the end Tori could have sworn that she saw Daria smile a little.

* * *

_Note: LaToya is backgrounder 'Orange Girl. Lyra is 'Beehive Girl'. and Emily is 'Pigtails'._


End file.
